World | India

Man marries sister-in-law in hospital

Patna: A man in Bihar married his sister-in-law in the presence of the dead body of his wife, who lay in a postmortem room of a government hospital.

His deceased wife committed suicide after hanging herself from a ceiling fan on Wednesday.

The incident took place at Biharsharif town in Nalanda district of Bihar, 80km south of Patna, capital of Bihar state, local media reported on Thursday.

Reports said Pushpa Kumari, wife of Sujit Kumar from Parasdiha village in the central Bihar’s Nalanda district, committed suicide at her in-laws’ house on Wednesday.

Her body was then brought for postmortem at the local government hospital.

News of her death reached the victim’s parents, who rushed to the hospital and threatened to register a murder case against the in-laws accusing the later of forcing the girl to end her life.

The victim’s parents reportedly then asked the in-law’s family to allow the widower to marry the victim’s younger sister Rashmirathi, which Sujit’s family agreed to.

The story took a dramatic turn when the girl’s parents asked the boy to marry his sister-in-law then and there at the hospital.

Soon a packet of vermilion was brought from the market as the boy married his sister-in-law by applying vermilion on her hair as the dead body of his wife lay at the postmortem room of the hospital apparently as a witness.